The Weight We Carry Together
by Tif S
Summary: Semi- major AU: After receiving a congratulations on your Hogwarts letter gift from his uncle, Albus begins to realize there's something different about him. As he and his family struggle with this news and his father's new job, will he collapse under the weight of it all? Pure angst and fluff. Pairings: Established Hinny.
1. The Three Owls

**Part 1: The Three Owls**

Harry had become accustomed to all manners of racket in his life. There were good and bad sorts. But his favorite sort was currently crawling in between him and his sleeping wife.

"Mm, sod off Harry, it's Saturday." Ginny mumbled sleepily. Even while still grasping for his glasses, Harry knew to dodge right. It was in his wife's higher pitched trailing of his name, but the eleven and nine year old in the gaping chasm were not so lucky.

A fast hand clipped Lily Luna on the forehead. "Mum!" She snapped. Albus reached out for his sister, placing two hands under wiggling arms, but unable to keep his own balance, while kneeling, under the weight of a wiggly Lily Luna and falling back into his father's chest.

Ginny turned realizing her error. "Oh Lily, I bumped you didn't I?" She sat up and held out her arms. "I'm sorry Love."

"Daddy and Al didn't say anything." Lily stated with a pointed look at her brother and father as she crawled into Ginny's arms.

"I didn't know!" Albus said sitting up and pulling his knees to his chest. "Mum's wicked fast."

Harry chuckled and held up his glasses before placing them upon his face. "Well she was the best chaser the Holyhead Harpies have seen yet, you just have to be quicker than that."

"Well thank you for the compliment." Ginny said. She looked at her two children in turn realizing with a slight frown that one was missing. "Where's James?"

"Er…" Albus winced realizing that he was breaking the one rule, never leave James unattended before breakfast otherwise it would be very unlikely there would be any food left to make breakfast. "Well, that's why we came up here. The post, it's just...there's _three_ owls."

"Three?" Harry had swung his legs over the bed and was in the futile process of half taming his unruly dark hair. "One of them isn't Wendig?" Wendig was the ministry owl, usually indication of some Auror emergency.

Albus shook his head. "I...don't think so."

"Not Errol?"

"Definitely not. He's standing."

"Not Pig?"

"No."

"But Tawny's 'round?" Harry asked referring to his eldest son's owl.

"Tawny gave a letter to James." Albus confirmed.

"Well, we should go see for ourselves then, shall we?" Ginny said.

Albus and Lily Luna nodded scrambling down from their parents' bed and leaving the bedroom.

Harry put an arm around his wife. "Well, at least this isn't one of those dull mornings." He planted a kiss into her hair.

"At least." Ginny rolled her eyes fondly leaning into her husband as they followed their children downstairs.

* * *

Albus hopped the last step that led into the Potter's kitchen to see his brother, glasses sliding down his nose, studying an envelope with interest.

"Looks like Hogwarts didn't forget you after all Alby." James held up the heavy looking envelope.

"Your letter came?" Lily frowned down at her brother, a step above him, but the youngest Potter's question went unanswered as Albus processed the news.

Albus walked over to where his older brother stood. He felt himself suddenly nervous. Of course, he had been looking forward to this moment. All witches and wizards his age did, but now that it was finally here...well he wasn't sure what to think as his brother placed it in his hands.

"Well go on then," James said. "Open it up."

"You have to wait for Mum and Dad!" Lily said.

Albus nodded. That, of course, was his intention all along. But he began to notice something strange as he looked at the letters. None were where they were supposed to be, at least they didn't stay that way. He couldn't tell what the envelope said, no matter how much he focused. _AlsubterPotruSsev ootermtPanr._ Nothing stood still.

"Al!" He snapped back to as he registered his brother's fingers snapping in his face. He then looked up to see his Mum and Dad staring at him with keen interest.

"Today's the day then?" Ginny said. "You got your letter?"

"Er...yeah. Guess so." Albus gave a shaky smile.

"Oh darling, that's wonderful." Ginny smiled. "We'll have to celebrate then yeah?"

Albus nodded his grip tightening on the envelope, yet unopened.

"Well, go on. Don't keep us waiting!" James said.

Albus felt his chest tighten at the prospect of the family tradition, reading the letter aloud, then again for the aunts uncles and cousins, again for Gran and Grandpa. If the letters didn't stay in place on the ruddy envelope, how would they stay in place reading the letter itself? "We already know what it says, you read it fifteen times when you got yours!"

"Albus," His father started.

But he didn't wait to be scolded. Albus turned around and ran up the stairs to his bedroom.

* * *

The Potter parents exchanged a look.

"I'll talk to him," Harry was the first to speak.

"Dad," James turned to the kitchen table. Ginny followed her son's gaze to see, not Tawny, but another owl perched there hobbling forward with a pointed _hoo_.

 _Right, the third owl._ Ginny sighed. The first had been Tawny, whom she assumed James had placed back in his cage. The second had been the Hogwarts owl who had flown off some time ago through the manor's large kitchen window, but this owl was still here.

She studied the envelope that the owl had dropped:

 _Harry Potter_

 _Potter Manor._

"Harry, this letter's for you." Ginny said.

"I'll read it later." Harry replied, already heading up the stairs.

Lily gasped as the owl flew over and landed on the railing right before her father placed his hand there. She then burst into laughter. "I don't think she's going to let you."

"Right then," Ginny recognized the look on her husband's face as he spoke, utter confusion. "I guess not."

"I'll go talk to Albus." Ginny said. "You two," She looked to her other children. "Give your father some privacy if you please."

"But…" Lily started.

"Now," Ginny gave her daughter a pointed look.

Lily ducked under her mother's arm and went down the steps the rest of the way. She then went over to her brother. "Can you teach me the knockback jinx?"

James sighed simply grabbing his sister's arm and dragging her out to the garden.

"James Sirius, no spellcasting!" Ginny shouted. As she watched her kids leave, she walked over to the kitchen table and placed her head in her hands. "What are we going to do with them?" She looks up to see Harry reading the letter intently, an indiscernible expression on his face.

"Well, I could put James in detention for a few days." Harry said offhandedly.

"We're not locking our son in Azkaban."

"Wrong sort." Harry now had a small half smile on his face as he thrust the letter in her direction. "Do you remember when I went over to Hogwarts last year to give that guest lecture?"

"And James lost Gryffindor twenty house points for asking you to teach the Patronus Charm to second years?"

"That's the one. Well, McGonagall said that Professor Ridge was looking to retire, and asked me if I'd like to be the replacement."

"Harry, why didn't you say anything? That's fantastic!" Ginny exclaimed pulling him into a hug.

"Logistics. I didn't know if it was official, and they needed to find my replacement at the Ministry before I could even consider accepting." His grin was slightly wider.

"But...if you're going to teach this year, and Albus got his letter...you knew this _months ago_!" Ginny put the pieces together. "And you kept it?"

"Well, you know what would happen if the kids knew." Harry said.

"You didn't tell _me_." Ginny narrowed her eyes. "Just what were you trying to accomplish?"

"Surprise." Harry shrugged.

"You're lucky it's a good one." Ginny tried to keep her serious expression, but a smile broke through as she leaned in and gave him a kiss. "We should go talk to Albus."


	2. The Half Fib and Controlled Chaos

_**A/N: Well, hello. It seems my author's note for chapter one had disappeared in the upload process, so I'm trying to remedy that here so it may be a tad long. As I meant to say in chapter one's author's note, this is my very first Harry Potter fanfiction. I've been a Harry Potter fan for a long long time, books and films, and after reading several fanfictions, I've decided I should try to write one. This is a very major AU, post original series meaning Cursed Child is not being considered here. I just thought that the story idea worked better without Cursed Child's events in mind. (As you can probably tell reading the first installment hehe.) As usual I do not own any recognizable characters, they are the property of JK Rowling, not me. I am simply showing my appreciation. The only characters I do own are any OCs, in this chapter, Grace Dursley whom is mentioned.**_

* * *

 **Part 2: The Half Fib, and Controlled Chaos**

Albus sat on his bed fiddling with his new muggle music player colored with bright pink roses courtesy of the case, a birthday gift given a few months too late by his father's cousin with a simple non-owl message his father and uncle had shaken their heads at during the time they were eating cake.

" _He said Grace wanted to upgrade. He thought he would give it to someone he knew would use it."_

" _Blimey, it looks brand new."_

" _That's the Dursley genetics."_

"Albus," He heard his Mum, and turned down the music slightly but didn't remove the plugged in plastic pieces from his ears. "Are you doing alright darling?"

Albus gave a half nod as he attempted to turn the music off, but only succeeded in playing the next song on the list. Muggle technology was strange. That failing, he simply pulled one of the earpieces out as he sat up and turned to see his parents standing in the doorway. "I'm fine, really."

His mother looked at him, and Albus felt as though she'd casted _reducio_. He deflated and as she sat next to him on the bed gently placing an arm around him, he leaned in close, allowing himself to relax, albeit not completely.

"Al," He didn't look up, but heard the soft creak of the floorboards and the scuffing of his father's slippers before he heard his voice. "You can tell us anything, you know that."

Albus nodded. "Yeah,"

"What's on your mind?"

He shrugged. He knew his parents wouldn't give it up. They'd just keep asking him what was wrong, but saying that letters were hopping round on the parchment, well that felt absolutely barking mad, so he latched onto the next best concern he had in his arsenal. It was a real one, so he wasn't technically lying, not really, just...sorting out his priorities. "What if it's horrible." He let that sit for a moment.

His mother frowned. "Oh Al…"

"What if we're not even sorted the same? James is Gryffindor. You and Mum, and Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione, and Uncle George. What if I'm not...and Rose is? What if I'm by myself?"

"Albus," There it was again. Albus was cut off as he felt a warm gentle pressure, the firm grasp of his father's hand. His eyes met his father's as the man took a deep breath in and out. Albus could do little but follow his father's lead. "Better?"

He nodded. "A bit. But, what if…?"

"Albus, that'll be just fine. And you won't be alone." His dad said.

"But Rose won't... if we're in different houses we won't see each other."

"That could never happen." His mum ran a hand through his hair. "I bet you five galleons, if you and Rose are sorted differently, she'll break into your common room before the first week's out."

Albus couldn't help but grin at the image of his cousin in different colored robes from his own, arguing with a prefect, the head of house and the portraits to let her through. "She'd lose so many house points."

"Undoubtedly," His dad chuckled. "But Al, no one is going to be disappointed regardless of your house."

"Teddy said Uncle Ron told him in his first year if he wasn't Gryffindor, he wouldn't be part of the family anymore, and James said so too." Albus knew his parents were right even if it still really worried him, but he just really didn't want his parents to figure out the real reason he'd yelled at James in the kitchen.

His father frowned. " You know Teddy was Hufflepuff right?"

Albus nodded. "Like his mum was."

"Yes, and he still comes around all the time."

"Uncle Ron just has a strange sense of timing about his jokes." Mum said. "Which was not very funny to tell an eleven year old anyway. I'll make sure he minds himself for you and Rose."

Looking up at his mum, Albus knew she would do just that and even more if the situation called for it. Mum could be as frightening as his Gran at the best of times.

"Thanks Mum, thanks Dad." Albus smiled.

"You're welcome." Mum gave him a squeeze. "Now hurry up and get downstairs. Your Dad's got some news of his own."

* * *

"Hugo Granger-Weasley, I've told you once, I've told you three hundred times!" Rose Granger-Weasley looked up from her Hogwarts letter with a wince at her mother's sharp tone as a black and white ball flew past her ear. About the size of a quaffle, but not nearly as aerodynamic, well unless you counted those moments when it nearly knocked the family clock off the wall, also known as-

CUCKOOO-PLUNK!

Right now.

"You could be a bloody good chaser if we could get you on a broomstick." Rose glanced over as her father as he went to inspect the broken clock, removing his wand from the inside pocket of his Weasley Wizard Wheezes coat. " _Reparo."_

"I can't fly until second year." Hugo replies as he grabs the ball stepping back quickly as the broken pieces flew up and back into place guided by his father's wand.

"You can't fly your own broom in _school_ until your second year." Rose rolled her eyes. "I only just got my letter and I know that. Honestly Hugh."

"Ron, you're not supposed to be praising him." Mum said.

"He wasn't." Hugo mumbled and then proceeded to juggle the ball in the way Rose had seen her Mum's muggle relatives do from kneecap to kneecap.

"Hugo, stop that right now. Not in the house." Mum sighed exasperated. "Out in the yard, go on!"

Hugo gave the ball one final kick out the Weasley-Grangers' screen door, and the Weasley-Granger parents continued their hushed conversation. Rose then decided to get back to studying her letter and school list in the living room seating herself upon the couch.

"Hullo," Rose gave a small jump as the fireplace next to her blazed green. " Oh hello Rose," She looked over to see her Aunt Ginny...or well her Aunt Ginny's head.

"Aunt Ginny!" She grinned. "Mum, Dad, Aunt Ginny's on the floo!" She turned back to her aunt after calling her parents. "Has Albus gotten his letter yet?"

"He did," Ginny confirmed. "Just today as a matter of fact." Rose noticed her aunt's micro-frown.

"That's brilliant. Can we go with you and Uncle Harry to Diagon Alley?" She then raised an eyebrow. "Aunt Ginny, what's wrong?"

"Nothing you need to worry about Rose, everything's alright."

Rose frowned. "Aunt Ginny, I know you're lying."

The two Weasleys stared at each other, Rose wondering if even the smoke from the floo could cause her aunt to flinch and surrender whatever she was withholding when she heard the sound of footsteps, causing her, quite unfortunately, to break the contest first.

"Ginny, how are you?" Mum came into the room cutting off Rose's inquiry. Rose huffed in exasperation falling backward from the couch arm to the center cushion..

"We're doing well, how are things over there?"

"Controlled chaos I suppose." Hermione gave a small chuckle turning to Rose and within the same breath, "Darling, would you sit properly, you're going to strain your neck reading like that."

Rose pursed her lips adjusting herself only the slightest bit so that she was leaning her head against the couch arm rather than the cushion itself. _Proper enough. She'll just have to allow it. At least I didn't break the clock._

"A constant as always isn't it though?" Ginny gave a sudden wide grin, Rose noticed out of the corner of her eye. Slightly too wide by her estimation. Rose attributed it to her presence. "You lot have to come by for tea. We have news and we want all of you to hear it."

"What's this about news?" Rose turned to see her father already munching a second piece of toast.

"We're going to Ginny's and Harry's for tea." Mum said.

"Brilliant," Dad replied. He then sat himself down beside Rose. "You wear holes in the parchment yet Rosie?"

Rose rolled her eyes in response. "I'm trying to find a way to counter Hugh's argument so that he'll finally play Quidditch with us."

"You still haven't managed to get Hugh on a broom?" Ginny scoffed. "You're losing your touch Ron. You Fred and George tossed me right on."

"That was 85% you Gin," Dad shook his head. "You stole Bill's's toy broom out of the closet when Mum was degnoming the garden. All we were doing was trying to get you to not whack em with it."

"I was seven and it was a broom. Dad said muggles used it to clean, I was trying to help Mum."

Rose laughed at hearing the story. "You tried to use a broom to attack gnomes?"

"I did and I'm not sorry. They do nasty things to the garden." Ginny replied boldly.

"And to broomsticks." Dad muttered.

"Ha ha." Ginny then turned her attention back to Rose. "Anyway Rose, try not to study the list too long."

"No promises Aunt Ginny, I'm just so excited! We're finally going to Hogwarts."

"That you are. Well see you at around one then?"

"We'll be there. See you later Ginny." Dad said.

In a flash, the fireplace returned back to its natural coloring. Rose then hopped off of the couch to go tell her brother that they were going to their aunt and uncle's for tea.

* * *

 _ **A/N: So, Albus was not entirely upfront with his parents, and we got some insight into the Granger-Weasleys. Next chapter, the families come together and Rose does some investigating. Until next time.**_


End file.
